The Art Deco Tour of Lisbon

One of the things that makes Lisbon interesting is the remarkable number of Art Deco buildings it has, particularly along Avenida Liberdade, the main boulevard of the city. That is also a nice shady place to walk for much of its length.

The Art Deco façades also combine in a lot of other things. This first one is a building with a corner relief that celebrates cinema and arts. It has been taken over by a Hard Rock Cafe. So all the nice socialist realism, in the Portuguese fascist version, in figures of dance, music, etc. want you to now join Planet Hollywood. Sitting duck for some snarky comments about global hybridity, but too easy.

Here is another example of a cinema arts palace, that has been repurposed. This one is now a sleek apartment hotel with a pool on the roof. Little kids in bathing suits kept appearing at one edge.



The last one is a train station that is still a train station, but its doors are really interesting. They combine what seems like a classic Art Deco rounded door with a much earlier rounded, decorated arch that mimics a 16th century church door, with the kind of carving that you might have seen on one of Lisbon's cathedrals or monasteries.